This week we have a major restocking and first-time-listing of some important recent releases of key titles from Merge, Domino, Matador, Nonesuch and more. Some 2011 Year End Best Lists type of product here for ya (finally!). Plus, check out that obscenely-inexpensive Matador sampler LP. Are they hemorrhaging money over there?!

Next week, watch for a boatload of Captured Tracks restocks and newies!

VARIOUS ARTISTS-Intended Play 2012 LP (Matador / True Panther Sounds-$1.98)
"Wait a minute, what?! Does that really say a buck-ninety-eight?!" Yup, it do. 11 tracks from Matador's stable of swell recent and forthcoming releases by THE YOUNG, KURT VILE, GIRLS, CEREMONY, TANLINES, LEE RANALDO, FUCKED UP, ESBEN AND THE WITCH, and PERFUME GENIUS -- and even two exclusive tracks by COLD CAVE and STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS. Oh, and mp3 download is included too. Sheesh!

** LES DISQUES COMPACT **

AMOR DE DIAS-Street of the Love of Days CD (Merge-$13.99)
Amor de Días (Spanish for "love of days") is the supergroup formed by Alasdair MacLean of THE CLIENTELE and Lupe Núñez-Fernández of PIPAS. Over the course of three years, they quietly put together their debut record during evenings and weekends as they called in local friends (Louis Philippe) and visiting musicians (Damon and Naomi, Gary Olson) for sessions, building up the songs' multifaceted arrangements and vocal harmonies with harps, bouzoukis, strings, recorders, and brass over the core of dual Spanish guitars and the dream imagery of their bilingual lyrics. The result is a focused, cohesive jewel of chamber pop that reflects a little of Gal Costa and Caetano Veloso's elegant brand of bossa nova, a bit of Erik Satie's haunting night music, and a large dose of spooky psychedelic folk. But the beautiful harmony that sings throughout the record makes it all their own. At times spare and empty, at times rich with instrumental texture, and at times jazz-tinged and hypnotic, S
treet of the Love of Days rivals anything either Alasdair or Lupe has recorded before.

THE BIG PINK-Future This CD (4AD-$11.99)
Running in at ten tracks in 45 minutes, Future This commands your attention throughout. Opening with its first single, "Stay Gold", a track written about doing what makes you happy, so immediate you could be forgiven for thinking they've not been away. From there, the album is paced perfectly, with future live anthems ("Rubbernecking", "1313", "Jump Music"), counterbalanced with a set of songs that show a more subtle side ("Hit The Ground (Superman)", "Give It Up" and title track "Future This").

HOWLER-America Give Up CD (Rough Trade-$8.99)
Howler is the brainchild of 19-year-old frontman Jordan Gatesmith. Last winter, Gatesmith had been playing guitar for the Minneapolis band, Total Babe. But the overwhelming desire to create his own songs, in his own band, prompted him to hole up with his laptop and a guitar and within weeks he had written the tracks that became the genesis for the band's debut EP This One's Different. Almost as quickly he found the people to play them with. Joining Jordan in Howler are Ian Nygaard (guitar), France Camp (bass), Max Petrek (keyboards) and Brent Mayes (drums).

MAGNETIC FIELDS-Realism CD (Nonesuch-$15.99)
Magnetic Fields' third Nonesuch disc, Realism, is the flipside to the industrial pop of Distortion, the quartet's brilliant 2008 homage to, of all things, the clangorous sound of the Jesus and Mary Chain. While Distortion was recorded quickly and noisily in the stairwells and rooms of the New York City apartment building to which singer-songwriter-bandleader Stephen Merritt was about to bid adieu for California, Realism was cut in the distortion-free environs of a Los Angeles studio, and its sound is as pristine as a plein-air painting. There are no drum kits to be heard, and the fascinatingly varied instrumentation - guitars, accordions, violins, cellos, tablas, banjos, tuba, even a smattering of mellifluous falling leaves - did not need to be plugged in. And, as with Distortion, the album credits emphasize: No Synths.
With tongue only slightly in cheek, Merritt has taken to declaring Realism his "folk" album. To get the point across, there is an upbeat, sing-along number early in the set called "We Are Having a Hootenany." Merritt's inspirations, however, were the orchestrated, mostly British folk of the late sixties/early seventies--which owe as much to sixties psychedelia as to traditional music--and the work of Judy Collins, who stretched the boundaries of "folk" with the chamber-pop arrangements of such albums as In My Life and Wildflowers.
Like Collins, Merritt favors variety and theatricality. She skipped from Jacques Brel to the Beatles; he goes from the trippy, toy-box melodies of "The Dolls' Tea Party" and "Painted Flower" to the foot-stomping rhythms of "The Dada Polka" (for which one only has to get up and "do something"). There's even a deceptively festive holiday number, "Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree," featuring a lusty chorus sung in German -- Kurt Weill in a holiday mood. In content, Merritt's songs veer between longing and loneliness, desire and dismissal, romance and revenge. Reality is as distorted as ever, and the characters who populate his songs are never just plain folk. As Jon Pareles of the New York Times put it in a review of Magnetic Fields' 2008 Town Hall concert, Merritt's songs are "elegantly phrased, understatedly sardonic tales of disillusionment. The loftier the dreams, the greater the letdown, an insight he plays for both chuckles and heartache."
Along with his long-time band-mates Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson and John Woo, Merritt is joined again by vocalist Shirley Simms, (whose plaintive tone on Distortion lent poignancy to the murderous fantasy of "California Girls" and the erotic musings in "The Nun's Litany") and accordionist Daniel Handler (a/k/a novelist Lemony Snicket, with whom Merritt created the Gothic Archies' faux children's disc, The Tragic Treasury). Also on board: horn player Johnny Blood and violinist Ida Pearle, familiar to fans of Magnetic Fields' earlier, independently released work. The quartet, along with Simms, are planning a small-theatre tour of the states to coincide with the release of Realism.

STEPHIN MERRITT-Obscurities CD (Merge-$13.99)
Obscurities is a collection of hard-to-find recordings from Stephin Merritt (The Magnetic Fields) dating back to his time on Merge (1994-1999) and prior. The 14 tracks on Obscurities - including five previously unreleased songs  were recorded prior to the release of The Magnetic Fields' seminal album, 69 Love Songs, the collection which established Merritt as one of this generation's most talented songwriters. Three of the unreleased tracks hail from The Song from Venus, the unfinished science fiction musical written by Merritt and Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket. Also included are four songs culled from various 7-inch singles by The Magnetic Fields; two from The 6ths, Merritt's guest vocalist-laden side project; one from an audio book; one from the Oh, Merge compilation; and one track from a rare K Records cassette-only release. Among the tracks on Obscurities is The Song from Venus' "Forever and a Day," a solo-acoustic ukulele-based love song. Also included is "The Sun
and the Sea and the Sky," a previously unreleased 69 Love Songs outtake.

PANDA BEAR-Tomboy CD (Paw Tracks-$12.99)
Both as a member of Animal Collective and as the solo artist Panda Bear, Noah Lennox spent the aughts helping redefine the aesthetics and methodology of experimental and independent music. With work ranging from splayed but lyrical noise, florid acoustic arrangements, and guitar-centric psychedelia, he and his bandmates have covered a vast musical territory that blurs the line between pop and experimentalism. But while Panda Bear and Animal Collective have garnered acclaim with each successive sonic venture, their music really started to take hold when they began working with electronics. In 2007, Lennox released the milestone Person Pitch, a mélange of loopy samples, ethereal textures, and dubby echoes all bound together by his soulful tenor. Hailed by many as an instant classic, the album's influence was almost immediately recognizable. He continued work with Animal Collective, releasing another landmark album Merriweather Post Pavilion in 2009. While the interval since Per
son Pitch has seen plenty of work from the Animal Collective camp, Panda Bear activity has been rare. He has toured sparingly, done intermittent remix work, and appeared on a few peers' releases while rumors circulated about his next full-length, Tomboy. The second half of 2010 saw the record's first offerings: a string of 7"s containing tracks from the album, each released on a different label. The singles have revealed Person Pitch's palette, while helping Lennox gauge his progress and focus on individual songs. Recorded at his studio in Lisbon, Person Pitch sees Lennox stepping away from the sample-based parameters of his previous record and incorporating more guitar and synthesizer. Still prevalent, though, is the interest in texture that made Person Pitch such a dense record; crashing waves and cheering crowds bounce against the gurgling arpeggios and give the tracks an immense sense of space. Soaked in reverb and punctuated with inflections of delay, the album's drums reveal a dub influence which gives them a visceral punch that lingers after each hit. Lennox's lofty, self-harmonizing vocals smooth out the songs, and Sonic Boom's mixing gives the work a large dynamic range. With Person Pitch, Lennox has created a more plaintive atmosphere, but in accordance with the conflicting image of its title, the highs of the album balance out its lows. The record, massive in its span of emotion, genre, and sound, is the welcome return of one of the most prolific and consistent audio pioneers in recent memory.

REAL ESTATE-Days CD (Domino-$12.99)
New Jersey's Real Estate release their new album, entitled Days on Domino. Recorded with Kevin McMahon in Upstate New York through the late winter/spring of 2011, Days is a gorgeous suite of timelessly melodic, achingly melancholy pop songs and a delightfully confident follow-up to 2009's exceptionally well-received eponymous debut. Comprised of nine new recordings and a revisit of last year's enduringly wonderful "Out Of Tune" standalone single, that appeared as a now outof- print 7" on True Panther, Days is the next step in the career of a uniquely close songwriting collective that feel more important with their every release.

ULRICH SCHNAUSS-Stars CD (Domino-$6.99)
Ulrich Schnauss returns after last year's acclaimed third album, Goodbye, with this Stars EP, highlighting the standout track with a new edit, remixes, and a new version of "Look At The Sky". The MAPS remix takes "Stars" to a new level of hyperactive electronic dream pop, while the Mahogany remix is a dense and spacey turn on the track with layers of added textures.

SURFER BLOOD-Tarot Classics EP CD (Kanine-$5.99)
Surfer Blood are back after a hectic year of nonstop touring with Interpol, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, The Drums, and The Pixies. While on tour they managed to squeeze a bit of studio time in to give us four new songs that are destined to become huge pop classics. Fans have already been singing along to "I'm Not Ready" and will be super excited to hear the three other new songs on record; "Reprise", "Drinking Problem", and "Miranda". Any Weezer fan will put these songs on repeat for years to come. Yes they are that catchy. The CD includes the four new tracks plus two remixes; the first from Connor (The Drums) and Peggy (The Pains of Being Pure at Heart) and the second by Ryan (Speculator).

VOIVOD-Warriors of Ice CD (Sonic Unyon-$12.99)
The past few years have seen Canadian metal legends Voivod respectfully get their due. After a successful run in 2003 and 2004, the band went on indefinite hiatus. Along the way, offers started coming in for the band to reform and play live shows again. It was something they were unsure of at first, originally agreeing only to do two festival shows in 2008, first in Quebec as part of HEAVY MTL and then later that summer in Calgary's Monsters of Rock Fest. In 2009, Voivod embarked on their largest European tour in more than a decade. The group played at ever major summer festival in Europe, including Germany's Wacken Open Air and Norway's Hole In The Sky, and were invited out by Phil Anselmo as special guests of Down for their Canadian national tour. The band was back and touring in a big way, with new guitarist Dan 'Chewy' Mongrain (Martyr, Gorguts) filling in for the deceased Piggy and making the other original members of the band excited to be playing these classic Voivod s
ongs once again. Late in 2009, Voivod released the live Tatsumaki DVD, filmed the previous fall when the band toured Japan for the first time ever. In order to celebrate its release, the band did a sold out hometown show at Montreal, Quebec's Club Soda. It was their first headlining show in the city of Montreal in more than ten years and it was celebrated in grand style. The show was recorded for posterity and is now being released as the fifteen-track Warriors Of Ice, the first official Voivod live album to feature original band members Denis 'Snake' Belanger on vocals and bassist Jean-Yves 'Blacky' Theriault. Warriors Of Ice highlights the classic period of the original Voidvod line-up and also offers a few new songs too. Containing songs that span from 1984's War And Pain right up to 1991's Angel Rat, two songs from the 2009 album Infini are also included mid set too. The album has all of the band's signature songs, from early classics "Voivod" and "Nuclear War" to "Tribal Convictions" and "Astronomy Domine". Warriors Of Ice is an absolute must for diehard fans of the band and a great starting point for the uninitiated too.

WILD FLAG-s/t CD (Merge-$13.99)
Wild Flag is a Portland, Oregon- and Washington, DC-based quartet consisting of Carrie Brownstein, Rebecca Cole, Mary Timony, and Janet Weiss. The members of Wild Flag have played in numerous and notable bands including Sleater-Kinney, Helium, Quasi, The Minders, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, and others. In April of 2011, they went to Sacramento, California, where they recorded their self-titled album with engineer Chris Woodhouse at the Hangar. All tracks were recorded live except for the vocals.

** GRAMOPHONE / PHONOGRAPH / ANALOG SOUND STORAGE MEDIA **

AMOR DE DIAS-Street of the Love of Days 180g LP (Merge-$17.99)
See CD description above!

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE-Fall be Kind EP 12" (Domino-$10.99)
To close out an incredible 2009 for Animal Collective that saw the release of their most critically and commercially successful album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, comes the Fall Be Kind EP. The EP features 5 brand new studio tracks that are every bit as lush and beautiful as those found on Merriweather. The year of Animal Collective continues.

ARCHERS OF LOAF-Icky Mettle LP (Merge-$17.99)
Ltd ed blue vinyl! Singer/guitarist Eric Bachmann, guitarist Eric Johnson, bassist Matt Gentling, and drummer Mark Price formed Archers of Loaf in Chapel Hill, NC in 1991. Icky Mettle was the first of four studio albums for the band that seemed to personify what SPIN Magazine deemed "a tremendously optimistic time in underground music, that 15-minute period in the early 1990s when it looked like indie rock really might take over the world." Re-mastered by Bob Weston and featuring new liner notes by Robert Christgau, Icky Mettle will come with bonus material including the entire Archers of Loaf vs. The Greatest of All Time EP as well as singles and b-sides from the Icky Mettle era.

THE BIG PINK-Future This LP (4AD-$14.99)
See CD description above!

BRIGHT EYES-The People's Key LP (Saddle Creek-$16.99)
The People's Key - Bright Eyes' seventh studio album - is the eagerly awaited follow-up to 2007's acclaimed Cassadaga. Since 2006 the once revolving cast of Bright Eyes players has settled around permanent members Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott, with additional musicians joining them in the studio and on tour. Fully realized and bursting with charisma, The People's Key is an assured and accomplished album, artfully arranged and filled with the engaging and mesmeric songwriting for which Oberst is renowned.

GANGLIANS-Still Living 2xLP (Lefse-$11.99)
Sacramento's Ganglians return after a relatively quiet two years since their dual album dropping in 2009. The aptly titled Still Living hits the streets August 23rd stateside via Lefse, and August 29th. Ringing in at just under an hour, the double LP stays true to their psychedelic roots established on their self-title debut and immediate follow-up Monster Head Room (both via Woodsist), they step it up a notch both stylistically and sonically by enlisting the help of producer Robby Moncrieff (who also played a crucial role in the shaping of The Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca).

MAGNETIC FIELDS-Realism LP+CD (Nonesuch-$17.99)
Both formats in one package!

MAGNETIC FIELDS-Holiday 180g LP (Merge-$17.99)
Stephin Merritt has claimed that each of the first four Magnetic Fields albums has a specific and unique musical style. It is telling that Holiday shares its name with Madonna's first major hit single, because the musical style on display here is early-'80s-style synth-dance-pop. Of course, in 1994, at the pinnacle of the post-grunge "alternative" era, few musics could have been more resolutely unfashionable. There's no doubt that the ever-contrary Merritt had this in mind all along. In keeping with the escapist title and lighthearted music, Merritt's lyrics only occasionally-and then only lightly-touch upon his usual world-weary cynicism, as on the mournful "Deep Sea Diving Suit." Merritt pursues a more romantic path for most Holiday, crooning the swooning "Take Ecstasy With Me" and "Strange Powers" with an uncharacteristic lightness of spirit. Chances are that it is all deeply ironic and bitter, but at least on the surface, Holiday is sheer delight.

MOUNTAIN GOATS-All Eternals Deck 180g LP (Merge-$19.99)
"The songs cluster around themes of hidden things and the dread that hidden things inspire," says singer/songwriter John Darnielle, "but also the excitement, the attraction, the magnetic draw that scary unknown hidden things exert." The title refers to an apocryphal tarot deck. The band approached recording sessions for All Eternals Deck as commando raids on multiple studios with several producers. "We wanted to see how disparate seasons and moods and locations and producers would play out in the songs," explains Darnielle.

PANDA BEAR-Tomboy LP (Paw Tracks-$14.99)
See CD description above!

PEACHES-The Teaches of Peaches LP (XL-$12.99)
Long overdue pressing on vinyl! Eagerly anticipated full-length (pun intended) debut from the vulgar Canadian temptress signed to Berlin's Kitty-Yo label, in collaboration with the equally lewd Chilly Gonzales. "The Teaches Of Peaches" has been described as sounding like a cross between Penthouse Forum and Charles Manson, in addition to winning raves in publications from the UK's Wire to Rolling Stone ("surreally funny, nasty and funky...Trent Reznor, Courtney Love and Foxy Brown should all be very, very afraid"). 11 sexy tracks like "Cum Undun," "Diddle My Skittle," and "Lovertits."

RIDE-Nowhere 180g LP (Rhino-$16.99)
Oxfordshire quartet Ride quickly rose to prominence in 1989, driven by the chart success of its first three EPs, the intensity of its live shows, and a hypnotic and moody sound that presaged alt-rock's ascendance. In October 1990, the band released its first full album Nowhere, a tour de force of intertwining guitars, intimate but otherworldly vocals, and open-ended lyrics. Two decades later, the album still resonates and remains one of the era's high-water marks.

RZA-Afro Samurai Resurrection: The Soundtrack 2xLP (Wu Music-$13.99)
The first release on the newly formed Wu Music Group label, run by The RZA and Mitchell Divine Diggs, Afro Samurai Resurrection is the soundtrack to the second season of Spike TV's critically-lauded animated television show and DVD featuring the voice of Samuel L Jackson. The score, produced entirely by the Wu Tang Clan's The RZA, features some of the biggest names in hip-hop, including Ghostface Killah, The RZA/Bobby Digital, Kool G Rap, Rah Digga, Inspectah Deck, Killah Priest, and special guest vocals by Sly Stone!

SUPERCHUNK-Foolish 180g LP (Merge-$17.99)
180gm vinyl & digital download coupon. Being released in a series of Superchunk re-issues, Foolish has been remastered by Jason Ward after the original release in 1994. The fourth album from the band, it includes the singles "The First Part" and "Driveway to Driveway". The re-issue includes an essay by Superchunk's Jon Wurster and previously unavailable downloadable bonus tracks. Allmusic.com calls Foolish "a dark masterpiece that contrasts the band's signature high-energy power punk attack with far more somber, orchestrated approach."

SUPERCHUNK-Here's Where the Strings Come In 180g LP (Merge-$17.99)
On 180 gram vinyl! Comes with a digital download code! Also includes a download of never-before-released bonus material from the Superchunk vaults! Following the recent Superchunk reissues of No Pocky for Kitty and On the Mouth, Merge Records brings Here's Where the Strings Come In back to print! Remastered by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Company from the original 1/2" reels. Artwork was reprinted at the original printing plant, Stoughton Printing Co., from the 1995 release.

Weekly update list for Tonevendor Mailorder. We will inform you of all items that have come in stock during the past week. Updates generally go out each Friday morning. Also may be used occasionally for special anouncements (such as sales, reminding you we are on vacation, etc.)